MLSsoccer.com continue our look back at the 2014 season that was for all 19 clubs in Major League Soccer, starting with the Montreal Impact and ending with the MLS Cup-winning LA Galaxy. We'll also take a peek at the two new clubs coming in and pour one out for departed friends Chivas USA. You can find the 2014 Year in Review HERE, and the club-by-club history of MLS HERE.
2014 record: 14-13-7 (49 pts.); 48 GF / 41 GA
Sporting Kansas City entered the season with solid hopes of repeating as MLS Cup champions – and then the dominoes started to fall.
They said it...
Left back Seth Sinovic:
“Obviously, we had high expectations for the league, for Open Cup and (CONCACAF) Champions League and fell short with pretty much all of those. It was a really disappointing season, looking back.”
Head coach Peter Vermes:
“I still don't know what I'm going to get from guys like Ike and Chance. I don't know where they are. It's one thing to know where they are in rehab. It's another thing to know if and when they're going to get back to play. That's not just going to happen all of a sudden. So I've got to weigh that piece as well. Calculating the risk involved in that is a difficult one.”
Winger/midfielder Graham Zusi:
“It’s been a long year, a very long year. Starting with January camp, which is pretty much a preseason in itself, having MLS preseason as well, and then pre-World Cup camp as well – that’s three preseasons right there, so it’s been a long one, but I wish it could go longer.”
Injuries, illness, international absences and the sale of interception machine Uri Rosell to Sporting Clube de Portugal. Roster hit after roster hit, combined with a heavier schedule because of CONCACAF Champions League play, left Kansas City limping – in some cases, literally – to an early exit in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round.
With the club moving to the Western Conference in 2015 to accommodate the entry of New York City FC and Orlando City, things will not get any easier in 2015. Still, Sporting have some good things to look back on – especially forward Dom Dwyer's record-shattering season, as the young Englishman became the first player in club history to break the 20-goal mark.
They also should see continued dividends from their new partnership with Brazil's Fluminense, even if they don't get to make defender Igor Juliao's loan permanent.
Best Moment of the Year
Sporting fans couldn't have scripted a better day than July 19. As fans awaited kickoff between Kansas City and the LA Galaxy, the club announced they had locked up center back Matt Besler and winger/midfielder Graham Zusi – a pair of perennial MLS All-Stars fresh off solid World Cup showings with the US national team in Brazil – with long-term contracts as Designated Players.
The two friends committed their futures, all the way through 2018, to the only MLS club they'd ever known. Besler, the local kid turned US international, called Sporting's owners “a special group” and said the list of reasons to stay was too long to go into.
Then Sporting went out and beat the Galaxy 2-1, their third straight win and sixth straight match without a loss – and as a bonus, they snapped LA's unbeaten string at eight.
Worst Moments of the Year
It'll take three cities, two countries and eight days to encompass this trio of bitter endings.
First came the group-stage finale in the CONCACAF Champions League. Sporting went into San Jose, Costa Rica, on Oct. 23, knowing that even a 1-goal loss against Saprissa would give them a second straight quarterfinal berth. Then Benny Feilhaber and Juliao both went down injured before halftime, and Kansas City were eliminated after a 2-0 loss.
Three days later, Sporting were home to New York in the regular-season finale. A win would have put them into the East semifinals, bypassing the Knockout Round. But the Red Bulls had other ideas, winning 2-0 as Bradley Wright-Phillips' brace tied the MLS single-season scoring record.
Sporting had their shot at revenge on Oct. 30 at Red Bull Arena – and when Dwyer scored in the 53rd minute, they looked poised to take it. Then Wright-Phillips struck in the 77th minute and again in the 90th, and Sporting's hopes of reversing their late-season struggles with a deep postseason run were gone with the final whistle.
Best Goal
Feilhaber, his career rejuvenated by a trade from New England before the 2013 season, turned in another strong campaign full of big moments – none more spectacular than his stoppage-time winner in Columbus on July 16.
With Sporting seconds away from having their road winning streak snapped at three matches, Feilhaber took a touch from Jacob Peterson and slammed a rocket off the bottom of the crossbar and into the goal for a 2-1 victory that put Kansas City back atop the East.
With a club-record 24 goals across all competitions (one of three single-season club marks he set or matched this season, all of them standing since the league and club began play in 1996), how could it be anyone but Dwyer? The young English forward, who has said more than once that he would like to naturalize and play for the United States, began the year in a one-on, one-off rotation with DP Claudio Bieler but quickly made the center forward's spot his own. To think that in 2013, Dwyer split his time between Sporting and USL PRO affiliate Orlando City.
Best Move
There were several solid candidates in this category – but given what happened to Sporting's back line this season, the winner has to be securing Juliao on loan from Fluminense. Thrust into the starting right back's job when Chance Myers went down with a season-ending Achilles tear in May, the young Brazilian proved himself creative on the attack, if still learning the ropes on defense. With Kansas City's ongoing roster woes in central defense, beginning with Ike Opara's season-ending ankle injury in late March, Juliao's emergence on the outside allowed converted fullback Kevin Ellis to move inside and acquit himself solidly with two selections to the MLS Team of the Week.
Quotable
"I can't fault the guys whe were out there for anything. They did what they had to do. Unfortunately, we came up short. I know they're very disappointed, as is the staff, but they did themselves proud, in my opinion,” -- Peter Vermes, following Sporting's 2014 playoff exit
Three Offseason Needs
1. Goalkeeper(s): Shot-stoppers rocketed to the top of Kansas City's shopping list when Sporting declined options on Eric Kronberg and Andy Gruenebaum, leaving 21-year-old Homegrown Player Jon Kempin as the sole remaining member of the corps. Vermes said Kempin – who got his first league experience in 2014 – still needs seasoning.
2.Left Back: Sporting shored up their defense after trading Aurelien Collin, getting Jalil Anibaba in that deal, but could use some depth behind Seth Sinovic at left back. Ellis, a Homegrown Player who is out of contract but expected to re-up, can play either side, and winger Peterson can fill in if needed, but Kansas City do not have a true left back behind the durable Sinovic.
3. More Help Out Wide: The departures of C.J.Sapong (traded to Philadelphia), Sal Zizzo (option declined, taken by NYCFC in Expansion Draft), Toni Dovale (option declined) and Soony Saad (left for Thai Premier League) have created plenty of job openings on the wings.
